Five Days Till I Do
by Hikaru Morinaga
Summary: In the process of being rewritten. Nagi's getting married, and Schwarz are gathering once again to celebrate. Of course nothing ever ends up being perfect. For Nuraya.


**Five Days Till I Do**

**Day One**

_Smile Like You Mean It_

_For Nuraya  
><em>

The airport wasn't all that busy, Schuldig thought, as he waited impatiently for their plane to be called so they could just get this stupid thing over with. People were staring at him now and then, either because they had never seen such a shade of red hair on anyone before, or because they were undressing him with their eyes, or they were questioning why anyone would wear a suit jacket with a _Grateful Dead_ t-shirt. He kept his eyes fixed on the book he was reading, though he wasn't paying any real attention to what he was reading anyway. He found it in the airport's bookstore and figured, well, why not? He had time to kill, and he didn't feel like torturing people this early in the morning.

A man sat down next to him, and Schuldig didn't have to look up to know it was Crawford. Crawford had a certain imprint of sorts on Schuldig's mind, so he could easily tell him apart from the mass of useless thoughts swirling around him.

"We will be heading for the gate in—" he paused, squinting ever so slightly. Schuldig had abandoned his book the moment Crawford had sat down, the reason being that Crawford was infinitely more interesting than reading about vampires and the girls who want them.

"Five minutes," Crawford finished, a satisfied look on his face. "I'm sure I can count on you distracting the security and customs officers so they don't notice certain things in our carry-ons."

Schuldig nodded. It wasn't his first time traveling with Crawford—he knew the drill. Distract the security personnel and the customs officer with a few Suggestions like _there are no guns in here_, and if anyone asked them if the luggage had been checked, they would answer with _yes, sir_ and Schuldig took great delight to fuck with these people's heads.

And even if Schuldig _wasn't_ a telepath, well, he had some natural assets he could always use to get them through… Which he only had to use once, and that was because he made the mistake of flying while heavily intoxicated. That was New Year's, though. He wasn't going to make _that_ mistake again. The security guard wasn't even attractive enough to deserve a lap dance from him.

"I'm tired," Schuldig complained, as he leaned against Crawford's shoulder. "And bored."

"Read your book," said Crawford.

"I can't read if I'm tired."

"Then just sit here for two more minutes." Crawford knew he should have pushed Schuldig away—they were in public, after all, and Germany was well acquainted with their faces since they were both in the public eye due to their job—but he didn't. He snaked his arm under Schuldig's jacket and around his waist, a discreet action Crawford was actually rather pleased with.

"Tell me our seats won't suck."

Crawford smirked. "They're first class, as always."

"Still doesn't give me a lot of leg room."

"You'll sleep most of it."

"Still—"

The intercom overhead announced in German that the 6:55am flight to Tokyo, Japan was now boarding, and for those who belong on the flight to proceed to…

Schuldig didn't need to hear the overhead announcement. Being partners with a precognitive made all of that pointless since he already knew where they needed to be. Crawford stood, and Schuldig with him, and they gathered all their luggage and proceeded towards their gate.

Crawford didn't remove his arm from around Schuldig's waist the entire time. At least until they had to sit on the airplane.

xoxo

"Nagi?"

Crawford took a quick sip of coffee as he waited for Nagi to respond. Schuldig collapsed dramatically on to one of the seats in Paris's wonderful airport, where they would be stuck for nine hours.

"Yes, Crawford?" answered Nagi, after Tot handed him the phone.

"We've arrived in Paris ahead of schedule."

"Which, naturally, he Saw ahead of time," muttered Schuldig, who was rubbing his temples. That one customs bastard nearly had them detained, crying to them in French about guns and whatever. Schuldig had to sugar up his Suggestions and try to remember the six years of French he'd taken at the Schloss. It managed to work, anyway, and Crawford was impressed.

Impressed because he didn't know Schuldig was fluent in French.

"We should be arriving at Narita in—" Crawford looked ahead. "—about eleven hours."

"I'll have a car ready for you by then," Nagi said. "If you don't mind not getting to the hotel right away, I can send a car courtesy of Kritiker and then take us straight to dinner after."

"Whatever is most convenient."

Crawford hung up the phone and looked at Schuldig.

"How do you feel about getting a tour of Kritiker before meeting Nagi's future in-laws?"

Schuldig snorted. "Those bastards again? How do we know it's not a trap?"

"Because Nagi would never betray Schwarz." He took a seat next to Schuldig, took another sip of coffee.

"Well that's nice to hear, except Schwarz has been disbanded for the past two years now." Schuldig took Crawford's coffee and had himself a nice large gulp of it.

Crawford looked at him. "Schwarz as a four man team, yes. But you keep forgetting Schwarz originally only had two members, and those two members are still here."

"Funny how it all went full circle, Herr Crawford."

Schuldig's old form of address for him stirred up memories for the precognitive, about the unruly eighteen year old he found as his partner and was introduced to in Austria's airport.

"Thinking about the past?"

Crawford snapped back to the present. "I've told you to not read my mind."

"Well normally I have no problem with that, but when you're looking all wistful like that, it's kind of hard to not be a little curious."

Schuldig took out his pack of cigarettes and took out his lighter.

"Come on, let's get out of here and enjoy Paris for the nine hours we're gonna be here for."

They checked their luggage into a safe box, and as soon as they hit the pavement, Schuldig lit his cigarette. Crawford chuckled.

"What?"

"You did that back then, too, after the flight from Salzburg to Berlin."

Schuldig gave him a look as he exhaled smoke. "You're scaring me, Brad." And in Schuldig's way of enunciating things, it came out more as _brat_.

"Let me show you my French skills," Schuldig said with a smirk and a wink before claiming Crawford's mouth.

xoxo

"Now I remember why I hated Paris so much," said Schuldig, as he and Crawford toured the sights of 'the city of love'.

"Why is that?"

"Well see that hotel there? That's where I lost my virginity. My first assignment, no less."

It was a decent looking hotel, had probably been paid for by Rosenkreuz, else a rookie talent would never be able to afford it.

"What assignment was that?"

"Well, when I was being considered by Farblos—that's how I met Silvia—they sent me, her, and Rudolf to Paris to threaten a few people, kill a bunch of others, and otherwise strike fear into the hearts of some group who decided to go against Eszett." He puffed on his third cigarette of the day.

"Better than a drafty old cabin in Switzerland," said Crawford.

They continued walking, Schuldig eying all the shop windows filled with designer duds and various other expensive things.

"Don't worry, I don't plan on buying anything," Schuldig reassured him. "I much prefer Berlin for this sort of thing."

That lasted until Schuldig saw this _fantasique_ pair of Dior sunglasses he just _had_ to have, of course. It wasn't even particularly sunny today.

"Don't give me that look," said Schuldig as he placed the sunglasses on top of his head, adjusting them so they kept most of his hair out of his eyes. "You know I've been looking for a good pair of sunglasses since the Ritual."

"If you need something to hold your hair back, get a bandana."

Schuldig laughed.

"We've had this discussion before." He handed back Crawford's credit card. "Nine years ago, after I grew my hair out to lengths Rosenkreuz would find scandalous."

Crawford just stared at him.

"Thanks for the trip down Memory Lane, Brad," Schuldig said with a grin, "but I think we have a plane to catch and a girl's family to meet."


End file.
